This invention relates to apparatus for use in conjunction with an engine fuel tank having an inlet therein for filling the tank with liquid fuel, for example, diesel fuel or gasoline, and has particular reference to apparatus adapted for manual insertion into and removal from the fuel tank through said inlet for removing water from the liquid fuel contained in the fuel tank.
Liquid fuel often contains undesirable contaminants, especially water. The water may have gotten into the fuel by various means anywhere in the chain of manufacture and distribution of the fuel. One source for such water is condensation from moist air which has entered a bulk fuel storage tank from which the liquid fuel water mixture is later pumped into an engine fuel tank such as at a filling station. Such condensation from moist air inside engine fuel tanks themselves can also prove a significant source of water contamination, especially inside fuel tanks which are not sealed but are vented to the atmosphere.
As is well known, the inclusion of water in liquid fuel systems for engines is undesirable for many reasons including the formation of various corrosive acids conducive to engine wear and fuel injection corrosion, potential freezing of fuel lines, lower engine efficiency, combustion failure, etc., and the cost and maintenance problems associated therewith. In diesel engine fuel systems problems of water in the deisel fuel are particularly acute because the water/diesel fuel mixture readily supports the growth of colonies of bacteria which look and act like slimes and either reduce the efficiency and increase the maintenance problems of the engine and its fuel system components, or actually disrupt the flow of fuel by clogging the fuel system components such as the fuel lines, filters and fuel injectors.
The significance of the water contamination problem has long been recognized for the individual operator of various engine-powered equipment such as trucks, boats, farm equipment, earth moving equipment, automobiles or engines. However, so far as is known, there has been no simple and practical apparatus for conveniently detecting water in and removing water from the fuel in the engine fuel tank prior to its entry into the fuel system proper. Instead, individual operators are encouraged to use various expensive additives such as surfactants, dispersants and bacteriacides to be poured into the engine fuel tank each time it is filled. Such additives may be helpful in partially palliating some of the problems resulting from water contamination, provided such additives are available and remembered at the time the tank is filled, and provided the minimum proper additive dosage, which varies with the unknown condition of the fuel at hand is employed. Of course, the engine and fuel system now has to deal with the additives as well as with the original water contaminant, if any.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a practical and conveniently usable apparatus for detecting water in and cost effectively removing water, in whole or in part, from the liquid fuel while the fuel is still in the engine fuel tanks, prior to its entry into the balance of the fuel system or into the engine proper. It is also desirable to know by simple inspection approximately when and at least to some extent the degree that water has contaminated the fuel tank, so that the source of the contamination may more readily be deduced, and corrective measures taken. It is an object of the present invention to provide simple, inexpensive and conveniently usable apparatus for these purposes.